As much trouble as Black folks have with cops I still feel this is not a Good Thing
COPS Program May Soon End
Watching Justice
October 4, 2004
The Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services program – or "COPS" – appears to be ending. The Clinton Administration initiative has issued more than $9 million in grants to police departments nationwide, allowing them to hire 118,000 police officers since its inception in 1995.
The program handed out its last scheduled round of grants in September, and the Administration's 2005 budget contains no money for the initiative. The program had already been subject to sharp cutbacks under President Bush.
Administration officials say the grants – called the Universal Hiring Program – have met their original goal of putting 100,000 new police officers on the streets. They also say the COPS program will continue offering grants for technology, school resource officers and law enforcement training, and note that $97 million has been allocated for those programs in the fiscal year beginning October 1.
A Justice Department spokesman defended the move, saying, "When people talk about decreasing the COPS program, that is not the whole story . . . the Bush Administration has provided more funding for state and local assistance than any other time in history."
The decision to phase out the grants for hiring regular officers has, however, drawn criticism from some law enforcement organizations. According to Ed Moscal, legislative chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, "The demise of the program will certainly have an impact on [police departments], and I'm afraid of what that will mean."
